Is Dad Too Sick for Colon Cancer Surgery?

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My father has stage IV colon cancer. He has a large mass in his hepatic section and polyps from his rectum on up, included in every section of his colon. He also has emphysema and is on 4 liters of oxygen. He is in poor health and cannot walk across a room without difficulty. He is 72 years old. Would surgery be right for him? I am concerned that the surgeons are only doing what they normally do in most cases of colon cancer and not looking at the risk of him not making it through surgery. If he were to make it through surgery, would this lengthen his life? Thank you.

It is difficult to answer your questions without having complete details of your father’s case. However, based on the information you have provided, it sounds like your father would be a high-risk patient for surgery. Moreover, surgery is rarely an appropriate treatment in stage IV colon cancer and is not done unless patients are suffering because the colon tumor is obstructing some other organ and interfering with normal bodily function.

In a case like this, doing surgery would not prolong the life of the patient because the tumor has already spread. Rather, extending the patient’s life would depend more on the success of chemotherapy in controlling the disease.

Last Updated: 4/14/2008

Dr. Saeed Sadeghi is a staff physician and an assistant clinical professor of medicine in the division of hematology and oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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